From marijuana to food processing, the Manitoba Women’s Institute has a modern outlook for a 90-year-old creation.
A member in her 80s led off the debate at the MWI May 1 annual general meeting on a motion to ask the federal government to legalize marijuana for medical purposes.
Delegates approved the resolution, said Helen Rigby, who finished her three-year term as president at the Portage la Prairie, Man., meeting.
Other approved resolutions said Manitoba should hold provincial elections at a set date every four years, and that Canada should maintain sovereignty over its water and not allow bulk exports.
Read Also
Sunterra companies continue restructuring under court protection
Claims against Sunterra Group have now been filed as the Alberta-based companies continue operating under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act.
Several resolutions dealt with processed food. Rigby said the delegates will ask provincial and federal ministers of health and agriculture to require labeling of foods containing trans fatty acids, to set a maximum level for them and to educate the public about the hazards.
While vegetable oils are generally healthier than animal fats, this is no longer true if they have been processed to make them remain solid at room temperature. The processing creates trans fatty acids that have been linked to clogged arteries and heart disease.
There was also a motion passed to support food research to develop new processing technology.
“We’re a well-informed group and didn’t have much debate” on the motions, said Rigby. MWI “came alive this fall,” she added, as other groups in the province began recognizing the clout of the 800 rural women.
MWI meets every year with provincial cabinet ministers and has a seat on the board of Keystone Agricultural Producers. It recently was part of a successful lobbying campaign to keep an independent home economics college at the University of Manitoba.
Groups including the agriculture department, the provincial school trustees and the federal government’s rural adaptation fund have asked for MWI’s participation in various events. Manitoba agriculture minister Rosann Wowchuk spoke at annual meeting and gave the group a cheque for $35,300 for its 2000-01 activities.
Next month, the MWI will host an expected 500 delegates at the Federated Women’s Institutes of Canada meeting in Brandon.
“We are rather tenacious,” said Rigby of the MWI, whose most recent campaign has been lobbying for government support for farm areas flooded last spring.
Membership concerns
Rigby is concerned about numbers. MWI has added 110 members in the past two years, but while the young ones may be coming in the front door, older members are slipping out the back as they get less active or die.
Rigby would like to see more joint membership between the MWI and the Manitoba Farm Women’s Conference, which holds an annual event but does no year-long programs or activities.
But that is a task she’ll turn over to the new president, Vivian Campbell of Neepawa, and the president-elect, Diane Hall of Gimli.
